I sent an email a week ago and nobody has answered. How do I follow up without sounding pushy?

How long to wait, by situation

None of these numbers is an official rule. They are the waits that recruiters, freelancers and office teams tend to treat as polite, counted in working days:

- A job application with no date given: 7 to 10 working days, then one more follow-up about a week later. - After an interview: if they named a date for a decision, wait until one or two working days after it passes. If they named none, about a week after your thank-you note. - A recruiter who contacted you first and then went quiet: 3 to 5 working days. - A client or prospect sitting on a quote: 3 or 4 working days for the first nudge, then a week, then two weeks. - A colleague whose answer you need to keep working: 2 working days, or the same day by chat or phone if it blocks something today. - A professor or another busy senior person: about 5 working days. - A supplier on an order: one working day after the promised date.

Two things move the clock. A real deadline makes everything earlier, so put the deadline in your first email and the follow-up has a reason to exist. Holidays and the summer weeks slow many inboxes, so add a few days around them.

Then stop. The first email plus two follow-ups is a common limit. The last one can close the loop without sulking: “I'll assume the timing isn't right and won't keep writing. If that changes, my details are below.” That leaves the door open without a fourth reminder.

What to add so it isn't “just checking in”

The second email has to bring something the first one didn't. Pick one:

- Job application: a link to a piece of work, a result since you applied, or a change in when you can start. - Client or prospect: an answer to the question they are probably stuck on, a smaller first option, or the real date your price changes. - Supplier: the order number, the date you need it by and what happens on your side if it slips. - Colleague: the exact decision you need, phrased so they can answer yes or no.

Before, 63 words:

“Hi Lena, I just wanted to follow up on my previous email and check in to see if you had a chance to look at my application. I know you're very busy and I'm sorry to bother you again, but I'm still very interested in the position and would love to hear back from you whenever you get a chance. Thanks so much.”

After, 48 words:

“Hi Lena, I'm following up on my application for the inventory analyst role, sent September 28. Since then I've built a Power BI dashboard of my store's weekly waste; the link is below if it helps. Is the role still open, and is there a timeline for interviews?”

What went: “just wanted to”, “check in”, the apology, “I know you're very busy” and “whenever you get a chance”, which tells the reader there is no reason to answer today. Other lines to cut on sight: “circling back”, “bumping this to the top of your inbox”, “per my last email”, which reads as a jab, and “did you get my email?”, because they almost always did.

Same thread or a new email, and the subject line

Reply in the original thread when its subject was specific. The reader sees your first message right under the new lines, and nothing has to be explained twice. In that case ignore the subject line in the draft and keep the “Re:”.

Start a new email when the first subject was vague, when two weeks or more have passed and the thread is buried, or when you are writing to someone new, such as the hiring manager after a silent recruiter. Then the subject has to do the work, so name the thing rather than the act of following up:

- “Inventory analyst application: still interested” (47 characters) - “Quote 2041 for the Elm Street kitchen” (37) - “Order 55817: new delivery date?” (31) - “Question about Thursday's seminar reading” (41)

“Following up” and “Checking in” say nothing about what the email is, and the format's spam check flags “urgent”.

Keep the copy line short too. Adding the person's manager to the second email reads as going over their head. If you need someone else, write to them separately and say you tried the first person on two dates.

What the Email format does with a follow-up

Pick Email and set Email type to Follow-up. That type tells the draft to mention your earlier message in a single sentence, add something new and useful, skip guilt trips such as “you haven't replied” and stay very short. Short means 50-120 words, and as a rule of thumb a follow-up rarely needs more than 80.

The draft opens with a subject line that it keeps to roughly 50 characters, and it warns you when one runs past 60. With Subject line ideas switched on under More details, three other subjects follow the email. It is told not to invent facts, so with no new detail you get a thinner email, and a missing name comes out as a bracketed placeholder. Put your name under Signature so you don't send “[Your name]” by mistake.

The tone can be Professional, Friendly, Formal or Persuasive. Friendly suits a recruiter you have already spoken to; Professional suits nearly everything else. A light red pen pass removes openers like “I hope this email finds you well”, and the spam check also catches runs of exclamation marks. HidenGPT does not send or schedule anything, so the reminder for your next follow-up goes in your own calendar.